Nighttime Entertainment

Kickin It

Baylee started soccer on Saturday. Since there are 18 teams in her age group, her team is supposed to be the "lemon" color team, but it's more of a glow-in-the-dark color. I'm sure if they had any night games (which they don't), they wouldn't even need any lights on. I even think her socks and shirt are almost more green and get yellower the longer they sit in the sun. She had a lot of fun though. They have a practice for about 30 minutes, and then a short game after.

Baylee is #7 and the only girl on her team. That's okay, though. She's used to being around boys, and not many girls.

Baylee claiming her cone. She knows that in soccer you are supossed to kick the ball, but for all the drills she would carry her ball around instead of kicking it. She followed what she was supposed to do otherwise. Like when they were supposed to knock down the cones, she would run to the cone with ball in hands, and then hit the cone over with her ball still in her hands... I think she was afraid one of the boys would want to steal her cool pink ball.

One of the brief moments Baylee actually put her ball down to kick it.

Baylee got a little worn out. She wouldn't play in the game (I'm wondering if part of it was that we had to wake her up to get there a little after 8). It was 3 v 3, but you never know with her age. Sometimes it was 3 v 3, sometimes it ended up being 3 v 2, or 4 v 1. It was pretty funny to watch. The coaches would throw a ball in and tell them to go kick it into the goal, and just keep adding more balls.

Baylee survived her first day of soccer and actually had a lot of fun (so she says). She's excited for soccer tomorrow and has been practicing this week. She says she's going to play in the game this week, but you never know. We'll have to wait and see!

Bounce Time!

Last Friday, the kids and I met up with our friends Heather, Trey, and Connor, at a Bounce Jungle. We used our free coupons we got at the summer festival we went to, but we had so much fun that I'm sure we will be going a lot! They had about six big inflatable things for the kids to play on, and the place was so clean! Since all the inflatables were inside, it also made for a nice activity to do out of the heat. We are hoping to go back on a Friday night when the dads can come too because we know they will have just as much fun as the kids!

Baylee climbing up the steps to the big slide......

...and Baylee going down!

This one was a little trickier for Baylee. You had to use a rope and the little blocks to get up. The slide was really fun once you got up! It was pretty steep and very fast.

This one was a big bounce house with basketball hoops, a jousting area in the middle, and lots of room to jump around.

Payton slept through most of the fun, but he woke up to catch the last little bit. Baylee and I even took him down one of the big slides with us! (I'm not sure if that was allowed....)

We loved our fun play date with Heather and the boys, and a couple of her friends. We can't wait to go again!

So Long To Summer

A few weeks ago, one of our favorite parks had a So Long To Summer Fest. We went with our friends, Mike and Heather, and had a lot of fun! Heather and I scored a lot of coupons for free activities to do with the kids (and we can't forget the one for a free massage for us). We've used one so far, and I'm excited to use more!

There were tons of games and play things for the kids. Here's Ben and Baylee shooting baskets with Heather and Trey.

Eventually Heather and Mike switched places, and Ben thought Baylee might actually score a basket if they got really close.

At one spot they were doing face painting. Trey got a really cute giraffe. Baylee was determined to get a purple heart.

We walked around for a little while, scoring our free activity coupons, and got a few bites to eat. We still had a few tickets to use up, so we had Trey and Baylee do a pony race, and it was too cute for words. Unfortunately Baylee had messed with the camera, and this is the best picture I ended up getting:

After this we got a bunch of free tickets from people, so we went on the giant inflatable slide quite a few times. I don't know who enjoyed it more- Baylee and Trey, or us parents who took turns taking them down! Of course none of the pictures turned out for that either. It was pretty fast! We had tons of fun, and are looking forward to the Halloween Carnival they are doing in a few more weeks!

A Night At The Museum

I am determined to get caught up on this blog! So, I have all my pictures uploaded to get caught up, now I just need to write.

Every first Friday of the month, the Children's Museum in Phoenix has a free admissions night. We went with some friends and had a great time!

One of the first things the kids did was ride tricycles through a mini car wash type area. They loved it! We also went through a noodle forrest, raced pinewood derby-like cars on a fun race course which was absolutely crowded), did some art, and had lots of fun playing in other areas in the museum.

Baylee had been doing so great with potty training that I let her wear her undies there like she wanted. She kept promising me she would let us know if she needed to use the bathroom, but when we got there I just had the feeling it wasn't the best idea. I kept trying to get her to put a pullup on, and kept asking if she needed to use the bathroom, but she kept refusing both. I had just asked her again if she needed to use the potty, she of course said no, and we went into one of the play areas. She was getting ready to make a felt pizza when all the sudden she stopped and looked at her feet. I knew what was coming. I picked her up and ran to the bathroom, but I was too late. She was soaked, and my shorts also were a victim in this fun little incident. While I had a pullup to put her in, I didn't have a change of shorts (for either of us), so the rest of the night she ran around in a shirt (which could actually be pulled off as a really short dress), her pullup, and nice clunky shoes. No I'm not preparing her for a "choice" future job.... (My shorts weren't too soaked and the only choice I had was to rinse them off at the sink. I don't think anyone wanted to see me running around shortless too-then people would really be wondering about us.)

Here's a couple more pictures, post-accident, of Baylee being her dramatic self in a cute little 3 and under area.

This was her Sleeping Beauty stage. She was Princess Aurora every day, and had to have Sleeping Beauty hair almost every day also. Surprisingly, though, this day I actually talked her into a different hairstyle. I'm sure Ben had to give her a kiss to wake her up.

And I'm glad to report that Baylee hasn't had any other public incidents since this night. But for those of you working on potty training, or approaching potty training someday, public areas with lots of action aren't a good idea for testing out if your child is ready to go out in undies, no matter how well they are doing at home. It wasn't very fun to be an adult smelling like pee.

Nature Weekend

We have become good friends with our neighbors from our last house we lived in before we moved into the one we are in now. We love getting together with Mike and Heather, and they have a boy the same age as Baylee. Those two have a lot of fun together and are so cute! A few weeks ago, Heather and her two boys came over to swim, and then we met back up with them later that night after our husbands were home so we could have some Ocean Blue. I think we got them addicted too. It decided to rain pretty hard that night. We found cover under an overhang, but Baylee and Trey had so much fun playing in it!

Baylee and Trey were so soaked! Eventually Trey stood under with the rest of us and just watched Baylee like she was crazy as she laid down in the puddles the rain had made. Smart move, Trey! They were pretty entertaining to watch.

The next night, Mike and Heather invited us to go with them to a cancer fundraiser at a nearby dairy farm. It was a little stinky, but we had so much fun with them!

One of the first things we did was feed the animals. Or at least Trey, Baylee and Ben did. Mike helped Trey also, but he didn't make it into this picture. Heather and I both decided we would rather pass on the animal germs.

Baylee and Ben even got to feed and pet a horse.

I got this picture of Trey and Baylee right before we went through this mini hay bale maze. Aren't they just too cute? Baylee tells us that Trey is her boyfriend. They will probably hate each other when they are older, but we can always keep our fingers crossed that they will stay liking each other.

They had the girl who's idea the fundraiser was do a milk toast. You can see the evidence all down Baylee's shirt. It's a cute family picture though! Ben was very exicted to match Payton. After the toast we went on a hay ride and learned all about the diary and cows and milk. We browsed through the crafts a little before heading out for ice cream at Coldstone. We definitely got our fill of dairy-ness.

We had so much fun that weekend, and love hanging out with Mike, Heather, and their boys! We are lucky to have them as friends. Thanks for a fun weekend guys!

5th Anniversary

Ok, I am determined to get caught up on this blog before I get too much further behind! So, I know this is old, but I just wanted to write about what we did for our anniversary so I won't forget.

At the beginning of August we celebrated our fifth anniversary- I can't believe how fast it's gone by! Our anniversary was on a Thursday, so we just went out to Cheesecake Factory to eat. Ben's parents had given me a gift card there for my birthday when they were down here for Payton's blessing. We thought it was a good time to use it.

Saturday was the day we decided to celebrate. Ben had it all planned out with some of my favorite things. These two even got to come along:

Saturday morning Ben and Baylee went and got me a breakfast burrito and one of my favorite cupcakes. Then Ben surprised me with a massage! It was much needed, but I guess what I really need is to go see a chiropractor (I was told during my massage that two of the vertebrae in my neck are out of place). After I was done, Ben and the kids picked me up and we went to a fry bread place for lunch. We went home so I could get cleaned up and also to rest for a little bit. Next up we went shopping. I had been really wanting to go to Arizona Mills and look for clothes for the kids, so it was perfect.

Then came dinner time. This is where things got a little more eventful. I LOVE fondue. So, we had decided to go to The Melting Pot. Great idea, but not really a good one with two kids. Baylee wasn't really enjoying being stuck in a booth for dinner. She decided she didn't want to dip food in cheese, which is one of her favorite foods. She wouldn't even have the chocolate one either, just the dippers. She has loved fondue the other times we have taken her, but today she wanted nothing to do with it. Payton soon was sick of being in his carseat. I got him out, and not too much later he had a diaper explosion all over me. Luckily the biggest part of it ended up on the napkin on my lap. Did you know the The Melting Pot doesn't have changing tables in their bathrooms? I found this out as I had to deal with Payton's present on the floor in a bathroom stall. It was wonderful, and I came out with a baby in a diaper and polo shirt, and my shorts and shirt soaked from trying to save my own clothes. By dessert time we had two loud, fussy kids. I'm sure the people around us were so happy... Our waitress was great though, and we ended up only paying for the cheese course. We had a coupon for free chocolate, and she didn't charge us for the meat. So, the food was great, but I think next time we will go kidless...

In the end, we had a great anniversary. I love you, Ben, and appreciate all the time and thought you put into planning a great day. Thank you for everything you do. You are a great husband and father, and I'm excited for all the years we have ahead of us. I can't wait to see where life takes us, and am so glad I get to take this journey with you! I love you so much!!!!

Call Brittany!!!!

So, as none of you know, I listen to all of the Sarah and Vinnie radio show podcast everyday. The are on 97.3 in San Francisco. Lately they have been singing 80's power ballads on the voicemail of a girl that Hooman is going after. And they have turned some of those songs into ringtones. They are hilarious. And they inspired me to make some ringtones for Britt. But she doesn't know about it yet. So everyone give her a call and ask her how she liked her ringtone.

As I was recording these ringtones I decided to record one with the video also. So below, the 'Skulls Of One' (that's mine and Baylee's band) present to you The first ever ringtone music video. Enjoy ...

I sound great, don't I? And I didn't even warm up. Good Night, I know you can't get the 'Skulls Of One's' awesome ringtone music video out of your head. Thank YOU!

Update from The Skull's Of One:

Downloadable ringtones:

Everything I Do I Do It For You - Brian Adams

Frown Song

I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

All My Life - KC and Jojo